Errata and Retractions in Electronic Journals

Abstract

Alerting readers to errata and retractions is a vital service which librarians have traditionally performed by adding notices to print journals. In the electronic environment, technology offers the capability of alerting readers more effectively than was ever possible in print journals. The authors sought to determine if publishers of biomedical electronic journals are indeed taking full advantage of technology to notify readers of errata and retractions. While data could not be gathered for quantifiable results, the authors observed a definite lack of standardization. The authors recommend that publishers make hypertext links between the original article and its correction or retraction in addition to posting a notice in the table of contents.

Key Words:

• Electronic publishing
• retracted publications
• published erratum
• libraries
• medical journalism
• medical libraries